athletics
Olympic champion Mihambo cancels the start of the World Cup: “Very sad”
She cannot defend her title in Budapest: Malaika Mihambo. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
A torn muscle fiber forces long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo to forgo the World Championships. The exceptional athlete ends her season prematurely. She’s already looking forward to next year.
Germany’s athletics star Malaika Mihambo has to give up the World Championships in Budapest with a heavy heart.
The long jump Olympic champion canceled her start in the title fights in Hungary on Tuesday after suffering an injury at the German championships in Kassel.
“I’m very sad that the season isn’t going as planned and I can’t start at the World Championships in Budapest,” said the 29-year-old from LG Kurpfalz. “As you could see at the German championships, I was in top form going into the World Cup. I would have liked to have shown that in Budapest.”
Patience is required
Now she has to be patient “so that she can give everything again next year at the European Championships in Rome and the Olympic Games in Paris. That’s my focus,” said Mihambo.
At the World Cup from August 19 to 27 in the Hungarian capital, after gold in 2019 and 2022, there was again a candidate for the title. The World Cup hat-trick has so far only been achieved by the American Brittney Reese from 2009 to 2013.
In addition to javelin thrower Julian Weber and decathletes Niklas Kaul and Leo Neugebauer, Mihambo was one of the greatest hopes for a medal in the Budapest stadium. Last year, the German Athletics Association in the USA only won gold with Olympic champion Mihambo in the long jump and bronze with the women’s sprint relay. The team wants to do better this year.
Stone: “hard blow”
“Having to do without Malaika at the World Cup in Budapest is a big blow for us,” said DLV head coach Annett Stein. “Nevertheless, we think it was absolutely the right decision because there is too much at stake with the 2024 Olympics. The whole team wishes Malaika a speedy recovery.” At the European Championships in Rome from June 7th to 12th next year, Mihambo wants to start in top form as well as at the athletics competitions of the Olympic Games in Paris from August 1st to 11th.
At the national title fights a week and a half ago in Kassel, she had won the German championship title for the sixth time in a row with 6.93 meters. But she had to stop the competition. It later turned out that she had torn a muscle fiber in her left thigh.
“An athlete like Malaika’s experience definitely helps when she misses training, but in the end her form is crucial,” coach Ulli Knapp said just a few days ago. Everything is being tried to at least shorten the forced break a little.
Already in the past year health problems
Health had already affected Mihambo’s title fight plans last year. After the World Cup in the USA and before the European Championships in Munich, a corona infection stopped her. Nevertheless, she competed in Munich and won silver. “It was a miracle for me how Malaika did it,” said her coach Knapp about the appearance at the European Championships. He is not the only one who has to do without this miracle this year.